Over 2 Weeks Now

It's slightly 2 weeks over from the day of surgery.

Since the last post, I have went back to the hospital twice for seroma extraction.
100ml on 14 Aug (Wed) — 2 days interval from previous extraction
200ml on 19 Aug (Mon) — 5 days interval from previous extraction

Can see that the amount is slowly decreasing now. And T's assistant had told me today that my wound looks quite well recovered cos the muscle are slowly building up, with less airy space or room for seroma too.

And today I heard it for the very first time from this nurse, that the numbness/tightness/pulling sensation on the under arm might take up to 1 year to fully recover. So far the answer I've been getting was, "you'll get there in time", "it takes some time", "one step at at time..." Although a bit disappointed in finding out the time count to be 1 year, but I'm quite happy to find out that what I'm going through now is within the normal range, and there's finally a 'parameter' set to gauge my progress.

I shall look forward to that. Although another disturbing find lately is that what I thought to be a swollen tissue on the underarm and slightly at the back, is actually my own fat which would probably stay there forever. As difficult as it is to understand, I try to explain it in my own words as the 'after effect' of surgery. The aftermath of cutting open the body, to removal of breast tissue and finally sealing up the wide opening (of about 20cm) back to the original state as it could be.

So here I'm having that bulky fat which I joke to the family members as my branded purse, clutch or perhaps pouch. Unless I exercise to lose some weight, or future reconstruction surgery to fix it.

Or maybe there's another way to achieve it — after chemotherapy.

Appointment with Dr H last Wed (14 Aug) has also confirmed that I would require chemotherapy, some medicine for about a year and future anti-hormones medicine for at least 5 years down the road. Dr H also shared on the lab test result from my surgery that it's indeed a stage 2 breast cancer, with one 25mm cancerous tumour (the lump) and 2 cancerous lymph nodes safely removed together with the breast tissue.

Dr H did say a little magical sentence of "I think there's a cure to this" before I left his clinic. However, I'm not going to take anything for granted anymore. I'm going to take on all the advices and medical recommendations from the medical oncologist this coming Wed (21 Aug) and I will fight on.

I will gain a complete recovery and cherish a new life!